Light feces in children can appear when they have some problems in the body. Violations of the internal organs can be immediately noticed by the color of the feces and its consistency. But you don't need to panic right away. It often happens that this is the result of food eaten.
Baby feces
It should be noted that children may have a different shade of bowel movements depending on age. A newborn baby has feces called meconium. It has an almost black color, viscous in consistency. A similar situation can be observed for four days. After meconium, light-colored feces appear. Babies who are new to the world have yellow or white patches in their stools and also some mucus. This is normal.
Feces of babies up to three months
Let's look at other causes of light stools.
Experienced doctors talk in great detail about why a child's stool color may change. After the baby was born, seven days later, his stools may become yellowish or light brown in color. And the consistency of feces becomes liquid. Ata he althy child has homogeneous stools that smell of fermented milk products. Similar bowel movements are observed up to three months. In addition, green and mucous inclusions may appear in the feces. For infants, this is considered normal.
Why an adult has light feces, we will consider at the end of the article.
What factors influence stool color?
Feces acquire a certain color depending on the amount of the enzyme bilirubin, which is contained in the stool. This enzyme is produced by the liver. Together with urine and feces, bilirubin is excreted from the body. Light-colored stools may be due to improper production of the enzyme. In this case, you need to do a urine test. If she has a dark tint, you should seek help from a pediatrician.
The color of the feces can also depend on the food that was consumed. Babies under one year of age usually breastfeed. Based on this, their stools have a light shade and a liquid consistency. The more milk the baby consumes, the more white his feces become. After some time, the child's diet will change, and his bowel movements will gradually darken and harden.
You also need to know that the feces of a child whose diet is based on mixtures will be denser than normal. And its color can vary from yellowish to gray. This can happen when new foods are introduced into the diet. When the baby is one year old, he will be able to consume beets in small quantities. In this case, the feces will also take on a dark tint.
The causes of light stools should be investigated by a doctor.
White feces
Why is the child's feces light, almost white? In such a case, the foods eaten affect the color. Especially if the diet was high in calcium. For example, a young mother, who is worried about her child and his bone strength, begins to give the child a very large amount of cottage cheese, milk, etc. The result of eating a large amount of white foods is white feces.
Very light, almost white stool can often be caused by foods that contain a lot of carbohydrates. Also, bowel movements may change color when a child is teething. At such a time, feces can become not only white, but also liquid. White feces can be the result of hepatitis. But this pathology can only be detected by a doctor, because the symptoms of such a disease are manifested not only by the color of the stool.
What is important to pay attention to when feces change color?
Often, light-colored feces in a child are the result of malnutrition. Especially when the child is overfed with milk, fatty cottage cheese and sour cream. But, one way or another, if the color of feces changes in a child, one should carefully monitor the accompanying factors. You need to analyze the diet, assess the general condition of the child and see if teeth are being cut.
Be sure to check for fever and vomiting. At such moments, you need to know if the child has lost his appetite and whether his sleep is disturbed. If there are any deviations from the norm, in this case, light feces can become a signal of a developing disease. And then it is necessarywill show it to the pediatrician.
Reasons
Why does a child have light stool? There are many reasons for this. The most basic are:
- Rotavirus infection. In this case, the child's temperature rises. There is diarrhea and vomiting. At first, the stools turn yellow, the next day it will look like clay. For the same reason, there are light-colored feces in an adult.
- Flu. Feces acquire not only a light color, but also a grayish tint. Such stool changes occur on the third or fourth day of illness. Sometimes the feces may become lighter even if the child has already recovered. This is such a special reaction of the body, which is trying to get rid of the remnants of drugs.
- Stagnation of bile. Due to the presence of bile, the stool becomes dark in color. Therefore, if the color of the stool becomes light, then the cause is bile stasis. You also need to take into account the anatomical features of the child. It happens that the bile ducts are bent or twisted.
- Whipple's disease. This ailment is little known and is quite rare. But the main symptom of this pathology is frequent bowel movements. They can happen up to ten times a day, or even more. In this case, the color of the feces becomes light gray. Has a foamy or pasty consistency.
- Inflammation of the pancreas. In most cases, this disease affects adults. But the child is not immune from inflammation of the pancreas either. But mostly this disease affects children from 4 years old. With such inflammation, the feces brighten, and also appearadditional symptoms.
- Reaction to pharmaceuticals. Children are usually very susceptible to drugs. Therefore, the color of bowel movements may change as a result of taking antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic drugs.
Dysbacteriosis
Light feces can appear in a child due to many diseases. These include dysbacteriosis. This disease can occur even in very young children. Dysbacteriosis is called an imbalance in the intestines. The causes of this pathology can be diseases that the mother of the child suffered during pregnancy, or the child took antibiotics and antibacterial drugs. An important role is played by the nutrition of the child and mother. With dysbacteriosis, a very light-colored stool occurs, which has an unpleasant sour smell.
Hepatitis
Light stools are also caused by hepatitis. But such a disease has other signs. The child also has nausea, lethargy, loss of appetite. The first such symptom is the dark color of the urine. Then the feces begin to lighten. At first, the stool acquires a light yellow tint, and then turns completely white. May also have a grayish tint.
Children under one year old can develop hepatitis B, especially if the child has become a carrier of a viral infection. This type of hepatitis has a latent period. The disease can form slowly, about six months. At the initial stage, the child's urine darkens and the feces begin to lighten. Then you lose your appetite andsleep disturbances occur. Then vomiting occurs and the temperature rises.
Light-colored feces in a two-year-old child may also be a sign of hepatitis A. In this case, the child's skin may not turn yellow immediately. First, the urine will begin to darken, then the feces will turn white. Other signs of the disease are similar to hepatitis B.
What to do when baby has light-colored stool?
Feces of a lighter shade in children of two years old may be due to nutrition. At this age, children are already given a variety of foods. A child's body may react differently to such a change in nutrition, and therefore the feces may become light in color. If the child does not have a fever, vomiting or other signs of illness, then this means that the child needs to be watched for several days. At such a time, foods that have pigment should be excluded from the diet. If no changes have happened, and the color of the feces remains the same - a light color, then you need to show the child to the pediatrician. If the urine turns dark and the stools become white, then this is an alarm signal. Even when there are no other signs of the disease, such as vomiting, nausea, fever, the child still needs to be seen by a doctor.
Even a three-year-old child has the opportunity to get dysbacteriosis or hepatitis. The child may also develop gallbladder problems. Only a doctor can identify the exact cause of this phenomenon.
For the treatment of children, drugs are prescribed, although they are gentle, but can also cause lightbowel movements. In such cases, it is necessary to analyze at what time the feces began to change. If there are no other symptoms other than a change in color, then you need to wait a couple of days. If the stool has not returned to normal, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Fecal changes in adults
Light-colored feces in an adult. What are the reasons for this phenomenon? It directly depends on the food eaten the day before. So, for example, light food will color the stool in a light shade (milk, sour-milk products). Next time the color will stabilize if these foods are excluded from the diet.
Causes of light-colored stool in an adult are presented below.
The normal brown color of feces is due to bilirubin, a component of bile. And a violation of the process of its entry from the gallbladder into the intestines can lead to clarification of feces.
There are a number of pathologies in which feces can turn light yellow.
This is:
- Hepatitis is an inflammatory disease of the liver. May be infectious, toxic, alcoholic.
- Pancreatitis - inflammation of the pancreas due to malnutrition, alcohol abuse, infections of the internal organs, taking certain medications.
- Oncological diseases of the digestive system. Malignant neoplasms on the internal organs are asymptomatic. The first signs appear when the tumor is already quite large. Symptoms: abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, vomiting, lack of appetite, sudden weight loss.
- Cholecystitis -inflammatory process in the gallbladder, accompanied by acute pain in the abdomen, decreased appetite, nausea, fever. Feces are liquid, sometimes with the remnants of undigested food.
- Crohn's disease is an inflammatory process that involves the entire digestive tract.
Why else can an adult have light feces?
This phenomenon can also occur due to some drugs:
- antibiotics;
- anti-inflammatory drugs;
- drugs for gout.
If an adult has light feces for the first time, then you should not panic. You just need to watch your bowel movements for five days.
Eating mostly plant-based foods can also lead to light-colored stools in adults. This is not a disease and there will be no harm to he alth. If there is an accelerated passage of digestive masses through the large intestine, the stool will turn light brown. Adding protein to the diet and fractional nutrition will help normalize the digestive tract.
In order to exclude diabetes, you need to consult a therapist and do a blood test.
You should be wary if the occurrence of light-colored feces in an adult is regular or periodically repeated. An isolated case is not considered a serious symptom. Most likely, this is due to the nature of the food.
